The Origins of Evening: Poems (National Poetry Series Books) [Hardcover]

Robert Gibb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1998 | Series: National Poetry Series Books

"The deft language and lyric intent of these poems (by acclaimed Pittsburgh poet Robert Gibb) . . . expose the dark, silvery images of a lost world. Here is Pittsburgh at twilight, in the old dusk of the steel mills. Here is a drug store, the Monongahela River, the trolleys and the carbarns. And here is memory at its most scalding, intense, and rigorous. . . . "--Eavan Boland.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Pittsburgh evoked in many of these generously elegiac narratives recalls the infernal Eden of the waning Industrial age, "a city in the confluence" where the men still walk in groups and drink after their shifts, and a phone call means someone has died. Fueled by memory, Gibb's poems form credible myths in which the poet-protagonist struggles toward redemption among the behemoth-like steel mills and looming mortality. His language, rich with sensory detail, takes up "The dialect coke and pig iron/ Leave upon the tongue" to render lurid cityscapes ("the floor crawling/ With rats,/ their metallic claws,/ Eyes bright as rivets....") that are contrasted with delicate ruminations on the natural world ("The wings almost deciduous,/ Antennae fusty as fronds" he writes of moths). Other poems directly and engagedly address the human condition: "There must be some way to enter/ The world and keep on moving into it,// Leaving the old life, rung by rattles,/ Lying there in the dark." This impulse toward transformation and transcendence pervades this fourth collection (following Fugue for a Late Snow), selected for the National Poetry Series by Eavan Boland, and is familiar enough that not everyone will be easily transported along. But in fusing childhood experience of working life, love and family with current labors and lusts ("Any life where a man/ Cannot go down on his knees,/ Drunk or sober in ecstasy/ Is not worth the pain") these poems make clear their voracity.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

One of the troubles of being a poet in contemporary America, it seems, is the rise of a pervading solemnity; afraid of revealing a fatal weakness by saying too much, or seeming to sing, our poets assure us of their worth by their unceasing seriousness. Gibb's fifth book of poems, the 1997 National Poetry Series-winning Origins of Evening, is unrelentingly downcast: the words night and gray and dark recur like bells striking the hour. Gibb has made a compelling craft out of the deep sadness of the spiritless and dangerous manual labors done in and around the Pittsburgh of his childhood, though the influence of James Wright on his diction and manner is heavy and at times imprisoning. Death, illness, and accident follow each other in mournful procession; even as Gibb describes early sexual feelings in "The Shape of the Goddess in Homestead Park" or "The Adorations," the effect is oddly involuted, as if in apology for the unexpected warmth of the subject. There is a musically gifted, exuberant poet within Gibb, if he were only permitted to sing. For larger collections of contemporary literature.?Graham Christian, Andover-Harvard Theological Lib., Cambridge
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 107 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393046443
• ISBN-13: 978-0393046441
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,093,416 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Personal and "connected to the dark"., July 7, 2000

By 

Dennis Etzel Jr. (In the center of the USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Origins of Evening: Poems (National Poetry Series Books) (Hardcover)

This book of poetry has a strong imagery and narrative, telling the stories of Pittsburgh and its depths. However, don't let Pittsburgh be misleading to the true themes: memory and darkness. The poems are honest, with a precise and not-too-wordy language that would block their strength. An example in "Home" from "A Connection to the Dark." "And in a voice hard as her fingers/ says 'Your dinner's in the oven/ getting cold.' Home is where/ Such scenes seemed to linger,/ Where you lost the first fears/ Of dying or being orphaned." I recommend this book to people who are starting to explore Contemporary American poetry, or people who are in the kingdom. I've read this book three times and from it at Open-Mic nights; it didn't win the National Poetry Series award for nothing (as the catch phrase goes). Its strengths go beyond their words and are as elusive as night.

3.0 out of 5 stars Patience pays off, July 11, 2000

By 

M. J. Smith (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Origins of Evening: Poems (National Poetry Series Books) (Hardcover)

Several times I was tempted to drop this book of poetry - the poems are well crafted and build on a dark, grimy side of the steel industry. Nothing about them set them apart from the general heap of grimy, lyrical, contemporary poetry. Nothing made them universal.

However, the last section of the book breaks forth with several excellent poems - the title poem "The Origins of Evening" is an exploration of death written for the author's uncle. "The Closet" is a delightful piece of letting one's life trap you ...

If your background resonates with the Pittsburgh steel mill environment, some of the earlier poems may speak to you. But most of the final poems should speak to any lover of contemporary poetry.